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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing reckonings. There is a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about national security, and questions about the way such an event could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for at least a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a series of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, necessitating a physical action to ready the next round. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles frequently used in international attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced weapons had been available.

Preventing a future Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already fissures in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the terrible toll of the attack demonstrates that existing gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been numerous declarations regarding strengthened firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will soon introduce a package of measures to reduce the public danger posed by firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are feasible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian system – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the predictable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is true in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

There are legitimate reasons for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is less secure as it once was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one friend observed after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.